This has been a busy week! We had a short day of school on Labor Day, and in honor of our book club also celebrated Back to Hogwarts with Butterbeer:
In religion we talked about the two natures of Christ. Chickadee reviewed adding and subtracting polynomials and multiplying monomials in algebra. She finished the first chapter in science. We continued to read The Wind in the Willows. In writing, she reviewed what makes something common knowledge and the rules about plagiarism. She read about David Livingstone as well as Garibaldi and the Young Italians in history. This week’s recipe from the American Girl Sweet & Savory Treats Cookbook was another dessert…Courtney’s Chocolate, Vanilla & Raspberry Swirl Cake (only we made it with strawberry extract instead of raspberry!).
We also took a field trip to the Central Library in St. Louis to take a self-guided tour of the historic building:
And we stopped at The Soda Fountain at Union Station to share a banana split!
I feel like we’re getting into a pretty good routine with the 2025-26 school year!
Last year, I promised Chickadee that I would do a Harry Potter themed manicure this summer, since I was too late to celebrate Back to Hogwarts by the time I thought of it then. Well, I’m true to my word, so this week’s mani, just in time for September 1st in under a week, is in house colors, featuring Holo Taco’s “Lemon Sucker” (Hufflepuff), “Green Taffy” (Slytherin), “Blue Freezie” (Ravenclaw), and “Red Licorice” (Gryffindor), with “Black Holo Wish” on the thumbnail to complete the look. Bonus points if you recognize the wand I’m holding!
Ladybug read about Gnosticism in her study of the early church. She worked with secant, cosecant, and cotangent in pre-calculus. In grammar, she continued identifying the different comma rules. She started a new chapter in physics, focused on one-dimensional motion equations. In history, she read about Pope Eugenius III and the Second Crusade. She continued to read The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Chickadee reviewed the properties of addition and subtraction in math. In writing, she started constructing one-level outlines. She read more about Britain in the Middle Ages in history. In science we started a chapter on the skeletal system. She picked up her read-through of the American Girl stories with Meet Felicity. We continued reading Anne of Green Gables. We also started making recipes from The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook. For our first dinner, we started with one of the most famous items in Anne of Green Gables, “Diana Barry’s Favorite Raspberry Cordial.” We had “Miss Stacy’s Baked Macaroni” for the main course, and a side of “White Sands Scalloped Tomatoes.” For dessert, we had the other most famous recipe from the book, “Anne’s Liniment Cake” (but we substituted vanilla for the liniment!):
“Mercy on us, Anne, you’ve flavored that cake with Anodyne Liniment. I broke the liniment bottle last week and poured what was left into an old empty vanilla bottle. I suppose it’s partly my fault–I should have warned you–but for pity’s sake, why couldn’t you have smelled it?” –Marilla Cuthbert
We also celebrated “Back to Hogwarts” today, and Ladybug and Chickadee helped me prepare all of the dishes we made from The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook. We started the day with Oversized Blueberry Muffins with Crunchy Tops like Mrs. Weasley might have made for Harry on the morning of his hearing in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. No Harry Potter-themed day would be complete without Butterbeer like Harry enjoyed at Hogsmeade in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. We baked Hot Rolls like the ones made by Kreacher in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. For dinner, we had Creamy Onion Soup like Mrs. Weasley cooked in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. We finished with Rhubarb Crumble with Custard Sauce from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
